Events – Homebox Right

High School Hackathon at Discovery Cube

Saturday, April 26 and Sunday, April 27, 2025 OCSEF is excited to bring our 70-year legacy of furthering STEM education to modern computer science competitions. Our Student Ambassadors have partnered with the Discovery Cube to host a new FREE coding event called OCSEFhacks in their 10,000 square foot theater. This exciting 2-day hackathon is open

Top 3 Interview Tips from Maya Gandhi

Created by our multi-award-winning student, Maya Gandhi, this video offers valuable tips and insights on how to interview effectively with judges. Whether you’re preparing for a competition or a formal interview, Maya’s practical advice will help you make a positive impression and approach the process with confidence.

Ask a Scientist/Engineer

The Ask a Scientist/Engineer program is an opportunity for students, grades 6-12, to ask questions and receive guidance from a scientist or engineer about any aspect of their project. These are informal ONE hour virtual events starting at 4 pm on selected Saturdays. Students must register by the Thursday before the Saturday session they want to attend.

OCSEF Announces 2024 Winners & Nominees for CSEF & Thermo Fisher, and ISEF

The 69th Annual Orange County Science and Engineering Fair (OCSEF) celebrated its winners on Sunday, March 10 at Chapman University. Starting from August of last year, students were invited to submit their STEM projects for OCSEF 2024. This year, over 1,000 students from across Orange County participated, which was a 22% increase from last year

Two New Videos Available on Picking a Topic for a STEM Project

Students and Educators  —  Check out the videos from the 2023 OCSEF summer workshops on picking a STEM topic for your science fair project.  Each video is about 40 minutes in length. “How to Choose a Science Project – Getting an Idea for a Topic!”  Explore a variety of science fair topics to identify topics that

Cultivating STEM leaders

The Orange County Science and Engineering Fair is sponsored by The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation. Dr. Arnold Beckman’s interest in science began when he was 9 years old after he found a chemistry book in the family attic. Beckman ended up inventing the modern electronic pH meter and the Spectrophotomer, which, accrording to him,

Five OCSEF Students Named to 2022 Top 300 Broadcom MASTERS

Society for Science and Broadcom Foundation announced the Top 300 competitors in the 2022 Broadcom MASTERS® — the nation’s premier STEM competition for middle school students. Five Orange County Science and Engineering Fair students were named to this prestigious group.   Broadcom MASTERS is a competition for sixth to eighth grade students designed to inspire and

OCSEF Announces Broadcom Coding with Commitment Winners

Orange County Science and Engineering Fair announces Mark Menaker and Vy Nguyen as the 2022 OCSEF Broadcom Coding with Commitment winners. The two middle-school students have shown excellence in their projects’ subject choices and presentations, in an inspiring interest in community problem solving. Mark Menaker, an 8th grader from Rancho San Joaquin Middle school, took the first

Submitting A Project: Tutorial Videos

Welcome to OCSEF’s “How-to” videos library. We have recorded these videos as tutorials for the whole process of registering your project for OCSEF 2022. Please click on the titles below to watch the videos (via YouTube). 1. How to create an Initial Project Screening application  2. Project description – Good vs Bad example  3. How to